Central Bank, stock market, suspend operations for Pope’s visit

The central bank said on Monday its head office in Manila, along with its Philippine Payments and Settlements System (PhilPASS) and the Quezon City Security Plant Complex, will be closed on January 15 to 16 to allow market participants to observe the special non-working holiday for Pope Francis’ visit to this dominantly Catholic country.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in the same advisory to commercial banks that its regional offices and branches, however, will remain open for business on those days.

The presidential palace earlier announced that January 15, 16 and 19 are special non-working days in the National Capital Region for the Pope’s visit.

The BSP said that on January 19, even while the Pope is still in the country, PhilPaSS will resume operations to settle cleared transactions from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), which will be open for trading on that day, Monday.